Town Hall Meeting

Editor's note: This corrects an earlier version. In the wake of $13.5 million in pending budget cuts and 242 potential teacher layoffs, a town hall meeting aimed at preserving adult education programs will take place from 9 to 11 a.m. Friday at the Costa Mesa Neighborhood Community Center on Park Avenue. In February, the Newport-Mesa Unified School District Board of Education tentatively decided to do away with the adult education program next school year to achieve nearly $850,000 in savings.

COSTA MESA — Parents with kids in tow packed Rea Elementary School's multipurpose room for a two-hour bilingual town hall meeting Thursday night on the dangers of underage drinking. "Minor Drinking — Major Problems" gave residents facts about the prevalence of teen drinking, its dangers to developing youths, the legal liabilities of supplying minors with alcohol, and products parents might not realize that contain alcohol. "This is a big concern for all of us because, as you know, in their young age, alcohol and teenagers is not a good mix," said moderator and TeWinkle Intermediate School Principal Rich Rodriguez.

After a survey showed that at least half of all Newport Beach eleventh-graders had at least one drink in a 30-day period, members of the community plan to come together April 28 to discuss the dangers of and ways to prevent underage drinking. The Orange County chapter of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence is hosting a bilingual town hall meeting for the Newport-Mesa community called "Minor Drinking— Major Problems. " The panel was prompted by statistics that show underage drinking to be more prevalent in Newport than in some other parts of the region.

COSTA MESA — With a reduced police force, residents will have to be vigilant, Councilwoman Wendy Leece said during her town hall meeting Monday. "The burden is really on us right now to keep our city safe," Leece, the Costa Mesa City Council's lone opponent of the proposed city layoffs, said. Over about two hours Monday night at the Neighborhood Community Center, Leece outlined how the city is constrained by legal loopholes and conflicting laws on dealing with some 100 rehabilitation homes and 50 marijuana dispensaries, which she suggested can attract crime, and why residents need to become their own watchdogs.

Costa Mesa will host a town hall meeting regarding recreational vehicles next week before returning the long-debated issue to the City Council for final action. The meeting will focus on proposed regulation for recreational vehicles on public streets and seeks to gain public input on a proposed law that is pending formal approval by the council. Over the past six months, the City Council has considered various regulations to reduce the number of recreational vehicles parked on public streets.

-- Lolita Harper Costa Mesa will host a town hall meeting tonight regarding recreational vehicles before returning the long-debated issue to the City Council for final action. The meeting will focus on proposed regulation for recreational vehicles on public streets and seeks to gain public input on a proposed law that is pending formal approval by the council. Over the past six months, the City Council has considered various regulations to reduce the number of recreational vehicles parked on public streets.

GIVING THANKS What are you thankful for this year? Good health? Family and friends? Whatever it is, let us know by calling (949) 642-6086 or sending us an e-mail at dailypilot@latimes.com. Please spell your name and include your hometown and phone number. The Pilot will run a selection of the responses on Thanksgiving Day. The deadline for submissions is Tuesday. WEATHER Light winds will make short work of the morning clouds. See Page A2 COSTA MESA The Planning Commission will consider holding a town hall meeting on the proposed mobile home ordinance.

June Casagrande A town hall meeting on plans to build a community center drew a good size crowd on Monday night, but it's not yet clear what direction city leaders will take from the meeting. "We will begin to look at what it all means and what direction that takes us beginning with our next [Newport Coast Advisory Committee] meeting on Monday," committee chairman Jim McGee said. The committee is charged with bringing a recommendation to the City Council on how to spend about $7 million set aside to build a community center that some residents hope will serve as a town square uniting residents of the various Newport Coast subdivisions.

President Barack Obama’s staffers are eyeing the OC Fair & Events Center in Costa Mesa as a possible venue for a town hall meeting when the president visits Orange County on Wednesday, a Democratic party official said Saturday. “We haven’t gotten any confirmation yet, but there are rumors they are considering using the fairgrounds,” said Melahat Rafiei, executive director of the Democratic Party of Orange County. Obama will travel to Orange County on Wednesday afternoon, before heading to Los Angeles to spend the night, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said during a media briefing last week.

WHAT HAPPENED: The school board renewed a lease agreement with the Coast Community College District for Coastline Community College to use the Mesa Verde school site through June 30, 2003. Before the vote was taken, two adult education teachers implored the board not to continue renting out schools when the adult education program is paying to rent rooms at a church. Supt. Robert Barbot told the teachers that he has trying to solve their problem and is currently negotiating a new location for them.

Despite passionate public outcry from Huntington Beach and Costa Mesa residents about revived talks of the proposed 19th Street Bridge, Newport Beach council members are slow to distance themselves completely from the project. Councilwoman Leslie Daigle is requesting the city reexamine the bridge — which would alleviate traffic on the Pacific Coast Highway and Victoria Street bridges — ahead of either reaffirming the city's position to support it or come out against it. "We're taking it up as an accommodation to our neighbors in H.B. who are impacted by traffic," Daigle wrote in an email.

COSTA MESA — City officials moved up a day a scheduled informational meeting on a city charter proposed to go on the June ballot. The city charter discussion will now be at 7 p.m. Jan. 4 at the Neighborhood Community Center, 1845 Park Ave. The meeting will outline what powers a city charter, or constitution, what is put in the city's hands instead of in Sacramento's, and the process of how the charter gets on the ballot. Residents can also offer input on what they think should be in the charter; it will be their first chance to do so in person outside a three-minute public comments window during council meetings.

COSTA MESA — With a reduced police force, residents will have to be vigilant, Councilwoman Wendy Leece said during her town hall meeting Monday. "The burden is really on us right now to keep our city safe," Leece, the Costa Mesa City Council's lone opponent of the proposed city layoffs, said. Over about two hours Monday night at the Neighborhood Community Center, Leece outlined how the city is constrained by legal loopholes and conflicting laws on dealing with some 100 rehabilitation homes and 50 marijuana dispensaries, which she suggested can attract crime, and why residents need to become their own watchdogs.

Thursday's Calendar THURSDAY Ralph Velasco A presentation on India's Golden Triangle region will be given at 6 p.m. by Ralph Velasco, photographer and international tour guide, at the Visual Arts Gallery at the 2011 O.C. Fair in Costa Mesa. The show is free, with admission to the fair. Cooking Classes Orange Coast College is having a crepe, seafood and vegetarian dinner cooking class with Kim Allen. The classes meet from 6 to 9 p.m. in Journalism 105 at the campus, 2701 Fairview Road, Costa Mesa.

COSTA MESA — Parents with kids in tow packed Rea Elementary School's multipurpose room for a two-hour bilingual town hall meeting Thursday night on the dangers of underage drinking. "Minor Drinking — Major Problems" gave residents facts about the prevalence of teen drinking, its dangers to developing youths, the legal liabilities of supplying minors with alcohol, and products parents might not realize that contain alcohol. "This is a big concern for all of us because, as you know, in their young age, alcohol and teenagers is not a good mix," said moderator and TeWinkle Intermediate School Principal Rich Rodriguez.

After a survey showed that at least half of all Newport Beach eleventh-graders had at least one drink in a 30-day period, members of the community plan to come together April 28 to discuss the dangers of and ways to prevent underage drinking. The Orange County chapter of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence is hosting a bilingual town hall meeting for the Newport-Mesa community called "Minor Drinking— Major Problems. " The panel was prompted by statistics that show underage drinking to be more prevalent in Newport than in some other parts of the region.

Sunset Beach may soon apply to incorporate as a city but leave its beach in the care of Orange County, a recommendation made by a financial consultant at a recent town hall meeting. At the May 20 meeting, which about 100 residents attended, representatives from Willdan Financial Services laid out three possible scenarios for the seaside community becoming the newest — and smallest — city in the county. In the preferred scenario, which Sunset Beach Community Assn. President Greg Griffin also said he favored, Sunset would take control of the "green belt," a long, grassy strip by the beach, but let the shore remain under county oversight.

Editor's note: This corrects an earlier version. In the wake of $13.5 million in pending budget cuts and 242 potential teacher layoffs, a town hall meeting aimed at preserving adult education programs will take place from 9 to 11 a.m. Friday at the Costa Mesa Neighborhood Community Center on Park Avenue. In February, the Newport-Mesa Unified School District Board of Education tentatively decided to do away with the adult education program next school year to achieve nearly $850,000 in savings.

On one street corner, they’re waving American flags, donning red, white and blue hats and shirts, and singing the national anthem. About 10 minutes later, on the opposite corner, another group starts chanting at the first group, “Go back to Canada! Go back to Canada!” Only in a debate about health-care reform could such a scene make any sense. With debate over President Obama’s signature domestic policy issue, health-care reform, continuing to heat up like a Southern California summer, hundreds took to demonstrating outside Rep. John Campbell’s office in Newport Beach Monday afternoon.